Anna Kavanaugh hosts the weekly radio series, "Mad Science: The Genetic Crossroad." The program aims to raise awareness and provide education about genetically modified organisms (GMO), in the world food supply and the practices of the GM biotech industry. The series is dedicated to all issues surrounding GM foods, its usage and ramifications thereof. Anna is a writer, advocate, and founder of the (AKCF) Anna Kavanaugh Charitable Foundation. Her original novel, "The Cord of Callows," now an upcoming expanded trilogy series, is the inspiration for a GMO documentary film entitled, "The Cord of Callows trilogy: Fact Behind the Fiction. Fear Behind the Fact."

A video podcast by the American Society for Microbiology that highlights the latest in microbiology, life science and biotechnology news. ASM is composed of over 42,000 scientists and health professionals with the mission to advance the microbial sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide. For information about ASM and MicrobeWorld, visit us online at www.microbeworld.org. For questions and/or feedback please email ccondayan@asmusa.org.

At the end of January, after nearly a year of hearings, roundtables, and white papers, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health released a draft of the much anticipated 21st Century Cures Act. The draft, nearly 400 pages long, addresses a broad range of issues in the drug and device development and review process. We spoke to Nick Manetto, principal with the national advisory and advocacy firm FaegreBD, about the legislation, where the points of controversy lay, and whether despite its bipartisan birth political brawling is ahead.

This podcast presents an interview with Dr. John Kellie, an Investigator in the Bioanalytical Sciences and Toxicokinetics group at GlaxoSmithKline, and a speaker in the Characterization of Biotherapeutics meeting at the 11th Annual PEGS Boston. John explains how next-generation analytical technologies are being used to characterize circulating ADC species, and how these findings support the development of safe and effective antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics. To learn more, visit http://www.PEGSummit.com/Biotherapeutics-Characterization

There’s no shortage of data created in the world of healthcare, but harnessing it to improve care and reduce costs remains a challenge. Apervita, backed with $18 million recent venture investment from GE Ventures, Baird Capital, and others is a marketplace for people to buy and sell their healthcare analytics. We spoke to Paul Magelli, CEO of Apervita, about the pressures on healthcare providers today, the challenges to integrating analytics into practice, and how Apervita hopes to change that.

President Obama unveiled the details of his $215 million precision medicine initiative, the centerpiece of which is a 1 million person study that seeks to correlate genetic data, with health records, lifestyle information, and more to better understanding wellness and disease and fuel the development of new therapies. We spoke to Amy Miller, executive vice president of The Personalized Medicine Coalition, about the initiative, if the funding for it will match its ambition, and whether concerns about privacy will stand as a barrier to its success.

CAR-T cell immunotherapies seek to harness the body’s immune system to fight tumor cells. The promise of this new class of therapies has ignited investor’s imaginations, but a new report from EP Vantage argues that the enthusiasm that has driven valuations of CAR-T companies should be tempered by an eye towards the risks. We spoke to Jacob Plieth, report author and senior reporter for EP Vantage, about the promise of these therapies, what we know about their safety and efficacy, and why the muddy intellectual property landscape is a concern.

Dave Peterson of Kaiser Permanente speaks to CHI on February 3, 2015. Mr. Peterson will be a panelist during the IT Infrastructure – Hardware, Software Development, Cloud Computing and Data Security tracks at Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, April 21-23 in Boston, MA. Topics include IT compliance and managing vendor-related data security risks, the value of regulations alongside technological innovation, balancing patient privacy with biological research needs, reporting on controls effectiveness for service providers and more. http://www.Bio-ITWorldExpo.com/

Investment in biomedical research in the United States is declining at a time when other countries have been increasing their spending. While this is raising concerns about the threats this poses to the nation’s economic competitiveness, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests new strategies will be necessary to fund research and development if the clinical value of past investments and opportunities to improve care are to be fully realized. We spoke to study co-author Ray Dorsey, Professor of Neurology and Co-Director of the Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, about the findings, what strategies can be employed to reverse the trends, and why new investment alone is not the answer.

David Barton will discuss the new regulations being developed, which have major implications for IVD manufacturers and for laboratory-developed tests. This podcast will give an overview of the proposed new IVD regulation, a timeline for development, and briefly discuss how it will impact IVD manufacturers and clinical labs.

It was an unprecedented year for M&A activity in the life sciences, but even though Big Pharma returned to dealmaking after largely spending 2013 on the sidelines, it’s been unable to close its growth gap through acquisitions. Specialty Pharmaceutical and Big Biotech have been building muscle and key acquisitions that could address growth for Big Pharma continue to be snapped up by competitors. We spoke to Jeff Greene, EY’s Global Life Sciences Transaction Advisory Services Leader, about his firm’s new M&A report, at what point the growing price of assets becomes too rich, and what the outlook is for 2015.
By The Bio Report

Carl Feldbaum was the founding president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and he is the current chairman of the Life Sciences Foundation. His podcast conversation with Nature Biotechnology touches on his assistance in prosecuting Watergate, his visit to Saddam Hussein's palace and how he built BIO from the ground up.
By Nature Biotechnology

Dr. Mark Gerstein of Yale University speaks to CHI on January 16, 2015. Dr. Gerstein will be a speaker during the Clinical Genomics track at Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, April 21-23, 2015 in Boston, MA. Topics include evolving data science applications to genomics, the utility of networks for biological data analysis and integration, studying non-coding mutations for cancer genomics and personal genomics research, the computational tool FunSeq and more. http://www.bio-itworldexpo.com/

It is still a fairly new-recognized and rapidly increasing reality. Gluten intolerance has become a primary health concern for millions of consumers around the world. However, in the face of such an epidemic, the biotech industry is in aggressive pursuit of genetically manipulating a relief for this affliction, one they seek undoubtedly to capitalize on. If brought to fruition, the result of such a genetically engineered response may in actuality cause more grave consequences to consumers than it will provide them help. Revealing the latest research and what it says about gluten intolerance and the dangers involved with GM alternatives currently under development. If you are one of the millions suffering from this affliction, please don't miss out on hearing the important information brought to you in this broadcast.

Ron Cape, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Cetus, the first biotechnology company, died earlier this month at 82. Cetus, which developed PCR technology, as well as Betaseron and Interleukin-2,has faded from the minds of industry watchers, but its impact has been lasting. The company not only provided scientific, but financial and cultural innovations that helped shaped the industry. Chiron acquired the company in 1991. We spoke to Mark Jones, director of research for the Life Sciences Foundation about Cape, the innovations he made, and his lasting contributions.
By The Bio Report

The rapidly growing area of regenerative medicine is promising to replace chronic therapies with cures. As the biotechnology industry gathers in San Francisco for a big week of meetings, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine is readying to deliver its annual State of the Industry Briefing. We spoke to Edward Lanphier, president and CEO of Sangamo Biosciences and the newly elected chairman of the alliance, about the transformation of medicine that’s underway, the particular excitement among investors and industry over gene therapy, and why he’s confident payers are ready to embrace the new technology.
By The Bio Report

As the biotech industry ramps up for the JPMorgan Healthcare conference, we continue our conversation with TheStreet.com’s Adam Feuerstein. In part two of our conversation, we look ahead to what’s in store for the biotech industry in 2015. We get Feuerstein’s thoughts on who and what to watch in the new year, what Big Pharma company may be the target of a takeover, and whether fights over drug pricing will put an end to biotech’s bull market.
By The Bio Report

CHI's Samantha Lewis speaks with Daniel Kerls, director of ambulatory operations at CVS' Minute Clinic, as well as Alexander Sbordone, who is the Minute Clinic operations manager at CVS. Kerls and Sbordone discuss staffing MinuteClinic, the types of diagnostic tests they seek out, and the future direction of rapid clinics.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

The year 2014 was one for the record books for the biotech industry. In part one of a two-part podcast, we take a look back at the year that was with Adam Feuerstein, senior columnist for TheStreet.com. Feuerstein discusses the growing controversy over drug pricing, the newsmakers of 2014, and lessons from the Dendreon bankruptcy.
By The Bio Report

Amid Zand Interview Ms. Nariman Nasser of Genentech, on December 23, 2014. Nariman will be speaking at the SCOPE Summit in Orlando, FL in a track titled managing late stage research, observational studies and registries. Her talk will focus on digital strategies that makes observational studies more accessible and better aligned with patients lives.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

Amid Zand Interview Dr. Vera Ehrenstein of Aarhus University (Denmark) on December 27, 2014. Dr. Ehrenstein will be speaking at the SCOPE Summit in Orlando, FL in a track titled managing late stage research, observational studies and registries. Her talk will focus on collaborating with regulatory bodies such as the EMA on risk-minimization studies.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Liron Pantanowitz, Douglas Hartman, and Jeffrey Fine discuss the future of digital pathology, what they are most looking forward to at CHI’s Digital Pathology conference, changes in the field, highlights from their presentations in February, as well as how UPMC has become a leading organization in digital pathology.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

Two-thirds of Americans say they are willing to anonymously share their health information with researchers, but only about 1 in 5 is willing to provide their purchase history or social media activity, according to a recent Truven Health Analytics-NPR Health Poll. The findings suggests that while there is growing comfort with electronic health records, privacy concerns may hinder the ability of Big Data to deliver on its full promise to improve the health of individuals. We spoke to Michael Taylor, chief medical officer of Truven Health Analytics, about the survey, the level of theft and misuse of health data, and who people trust the most with their information.
By The Bio Report

To celebrate the airing of our 25th broadcast episode, tonight's show examines some of the highlights in previous shows and developments that have happened since. A discussion about everything from GMO labeling, to the global presence of agribusiness, to the frightening innovations under design in the biotech industry that may have serious impacts on consumers before another year comes to pass. We have seen good progress in consumer awareness and global action for change over the course of our previous broadcasts since first airing in January, 2013. But how much further do we have to go? Have we reached the point of no return? With planetary impact, climate change, and consumer health in the balance, find out how the link to GMO is affecting us all.

The cost of drug development, a metric that underlies discussions ranging from investment in startups to drug pricing, is a matter of great interest and controversy within the pharmaceutical industry. The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development recently completed a new estimate of the cost of developing a new prescription drug and raised it to $2.6 billion, up from $802 million in 2003. We spoke to Joe DiMasi, director of economic analysis at the Tufts center for the Study of Drug Development and principal investigator for the study, about the findings, why there’s been dramatic growth in cost despite efforts to reinvent drug development, and whether there’s reason to think the trend will reverse itself anytime soon.
By The Bio Report

Daphne Zohar is the founder, CEO and managing partner at PureTech, a venture creation company with a new approach to building biotechs, and she sits on the board of several life science firms. Her podcast conversation with Nature Biotechnology covers starting her first company (in high school), the usefulness of Bioentrepreneur courses, and women in venture capital.
By Nature Biotechnology

News last month of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s $3.3 billion sale of royalty rights to Kalydeco and other Vertex Pharmaceuticals drugs it helped fund served as a bold statement to the growing prominence and power of venture philanthropy. We spoke to Margaret Anderson, executive director of FasterCures about the transaction, the role new funding and collaboration models are playing in accelerating drug development, and what traditional investors and disease groups are learning from each other.
By The Bio Report

Dr. Lois Lampson, an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, describes novel ways of approaching the targeting of the brain (and brain cancers) using Antibody Therapeutics. Dr. Lampson is a speaker in the Cancer Targets for Antibody Therapeutics meeting being held at the 14th annual Peptalk on January 19-23, 2015 in San Diego. To view speaker abstracts and register for the meeting, please visit http://www.CHI-PepTalk.com
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

While many may think of telemedicine as an example of digital health technologies that will reshape the future landscape of medicine, a new survey from the law firm Foley & Lardner shows it is very much part of healthcare’s here and now. We spoke to Monica Chmielewski, special counsel to Foley & Lardner, about the survey’s findings, how the Affordable Care Act is fueling growing use of telemedicine, and why reimbursement concerns remain the biggest barrier to wider adoption.
By The Bio Report

The current Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa has sickened over 14,000 people and has killed over 5,100. Health workers from around the world are attempting to halt this deadly disease. On November 19th, the American Society for Microbiology featured two of these health workers, Dr. Joseph Fair and Dr. Michael Callahan, who have extensive experience with the virus, including direct field work during the current outbreak. In this presentation they discuss the virus, the response, and potential solutions.
By American Society for Microbiology

Dr. Donald Jarvis of University of Wyoming and GlycoBac, LLC and Dr. Dominic Esposito of Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. speak to CHI in November 2014. Drs. Jarvis and Esposito will be speakers during the Transient Protein Production conference at PepTalk, January 19-23, 2015 in San Diego, CA. Topics include the benefits of protein processing in the baculovirus-insect cell system, future challenges for transient protein expression and production and possible solutions.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

IBM’s Watson Group recently announced an investment in Pathway Genomics, part of a $100 million initiative by the computing giant to spur innovation in entrepreneurial companies that seek to leverage its cognitive computing platform Watson. Pathway Genomics will develop an app that will use Watson to provide health and wellness guidance customized to a user’s genetics. We spoke to Lauri Saft, director of IBM Watson Partner Programs, about the agreement, the things Watson can do better than doctors, and how this cognitive wonder promises to transform healthcare.
By The Bio Report

Britanny Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with terminal brain cancer who chose to end her own life with a lethal dose of medication, sparked a renewed discussion of so-called death with dignity laws. Maynard had become visible on social and traditional media in her final weeks as she campaigned for legislation now pending in several states. We spoke to Alan Meisel, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Pittsburgh and founder and director of the university's Center for Bioethics and Health Law, about the Maynard case, the state of existing and pending legislation, and whether Americans are becoming more willing to discuss the need to balance technological interventions with quality of life issues when considering their own deaths.
By The Bio Report

Vincent Racaniello and Glenn Rall meet up with Ann Skalka at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and talk about her long and productive career in virology, from biochemistry to bacteriophage lambda to retroviruses. Don't miss an episode of MicrobeWorld Video. Subscribe for free using iTunes or help support our work by purchasing the MicrobeWorld podcast application for iPhone and Android devices in the iTunes or Android app stores.
By American Society for Microbiology

The market for Orphan drugs is growing at more than twice the rate of other prescription medicines In 2013, a record 260 therapeutics won orphan designations in the United States alone as science, policy, and pricing are fueling the trend for drugmakers to develop expensive drugs for small patient populations. We spoke to Jon Gardner, author of a new report from EvaluatePharma, about the growth of the orphan drug market, how successful drugmakers have been at expanding the use of these drugs for non-orphan indications, and whether growing pricing pressure will lead to disruptions in the market for these products.
By The Bio Report

Dr. Nathan E. Lewis of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability at UCSD School of Medicine speaks to CHI on November 3, 2014. Dr. Lewis will be a speaker during the Recombinant Protein Expression and Production and CHO Cells conferences at PepTalk, January 19-23, 2015 in San Diego, CA. Topics include the promise and challenges of using Chinese hamster ovary cells for enhancing recombinant protein expression and production, the creation of computational models by integrating metabolism glycosylation and the protein secretion pathway, the Novo Nordisk partnership with University of California, San Diego and more.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello Guests: Laurene Mascola and David Persing Vincent meets up with Laurene and David at the Annual Meeting of the Southern California Branch of the American Society for Microbiology, where they discuss how the Los Angeles County Department of Health is preparing for an outbreak of Ebola virus infection, and Cepheid’s game-changing, modular PCR system for the diagnosis of infectious diseases.
By American Society for Microbiology

Dr. Joshua LaBaer of Arizona State University speaks to CHI on October 27, 2014. Dr. LaBaer will be a keynote speaker during the Recombinant Protein Expression and Production conference at PepTalk, January 19-23, 2015 in San Diego, CA. Topics include applications of sequence-verified recombination-based clone sets to high-throughput protein expression, cell-free expression systems, sharing clones upon request for research, self-assembling protein microarrays and more.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, concerned about seeing the science they fund commercialized, have embraced the Lean Startup method as a way to improve the odds of success for new companies. Steve Blank, whose work launched the Lean Startup movement, has long worked with entrepreneurs, but last year began working with life sciences startups to apply the approach to an area he once thought it would not work. We spoke to Blank, entrepreneur, author, and Lean Startup guru about what startups do wrong, what he’s learned from applying the method to the life sciences, and whether there are lessons to be learned from lean startups for older, established companies.
By The Bio Report

There’s growing global concern about threat from antibiotic resistant pathogens. That’s leading to new interest in looking beyond traditional antibiotics to monoclonal antibodies to address the problem. We spoke to Ken Stover, senior director of infectious disease for MedImmune, about the problem, the role monoclonal antibodies could play, and why new efforts hold more promise than previous ones to enlist these powerful therapeutics, which are more often associated with cancer and autoimmune diseases.
By The Bio Report

Creating and maintaining a clean, sustainable water supply means delivering drinking water and collecting wastewater while dealing with pathogenic microorganisms and infrastructure challenges. It's not all challenges, however. Two speakers; Sudhir Murthy, PhD, PE, BCEE, Innovation Chief at DC Water, and Kellogg Schwab, PhD, Director of the Johns Hopkins University Water Institute, speak to Microbes After Hours about promising new endeavors in water management as well as issues of water safety. Speakers: Sudhir Murthy, PhD, PE, BCEE, Innovations Chief, DC WaterHow DC Water Addresses Microorganisms in Water: A US Water Utility Perspective Kellogg Schwab, PhD, Director, Johns Hopkins University Water InstituteInternational Issues of Water Safety with a Specific Focus on the Presence of Pathogens Including Norovirus in the Water Supplies of Developing Countries
By American Society for Microbiology

Welcome to episode 29, before we begin the show Yosif and I talk about about our new website and all it’s cool features. In addition Dr. Chris Fasano was nominated for Stem Cell Person of the Year and everyone needs to go out and vote for him. You can go to stemcellpodcast.com/vote We then kick off the science round up and review all the latest papers. Dr. Ginger Campbell, host of the Brain Science Podcast, then joins the SCP where we discuss her podcast and different “brainy” topics. We close the show ranting about the iPhone 6. Enjoy!
By Drs Fasano & Ganat

Scientific breakthroughs, innovations in technology, and the changing use of data are among the forces that are driving disruptive changes to healthcare. A new report from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics highlights a number of these developments and what they mean for the way healthcare is accessed and delivered. We spoke to Murray Aitken, executive director of the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, about the report, how these developments are reshaping the healthcare landscape, and how they are altering the role drugs will play in advancing healthcare.
By The Bio Report

As pressure on government and corporate research budgets grow, organizations like the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation are playing an increasingly critical role in advancing and accelerating drug development. The foundation’s efforts, including its landmark genetic study of multiple myeloma patients, are helping advance innovative therapies in an area that had long been characterized by its lack of new treatment options. We spoke to Walter Capone, president and CEO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, about his organization’s efforts, how it’s breaking down barriers to cooperation between its partners, and what it’s doing to get the biggest bang for its research bucks.
By The Bio Report

Nandini Kashyap interviews Dr. Johnson Varghese of Shire HGT on October 1, 2014. Dr. Varghese will be speaking during the Characterization of ADCs, Bispecifics and New Biotherapeutics conference taking place on January 19th-20th at the upcoming PepTalk event which runs from January 19th to 23rd, 2015 in San Diego, CA.
By Cambridge Healthtech Podcasts

THE Stem Cell Podcast starts off as always with a brief discussion before we dive into the latest science papers of the past two weeks. In our round up we talk about topics ranging from a dinosaur with a huge nose, Alzheimer’s and beta amyloid, a new effective cancer drug, a revised STAP protocol, stem cells to fix your dog, and stem cell tourism, amongst others. Then we bring on freelance science writer Karen Weintraub to discuss her recent piece in the New York Times on stem cells. We talk with her about the contents of her article and what she learned doing the research. We then close the show with a rant on automatic car window openers. Enjoy!
By Drs Fasano & Ganat